A Political Perspective
by VJ Riddle
Summary: Hatake Kakashi was a shinobi, and as a shinobi, the only people who could give him orders were his military superiors. The idea that a Council made up of civilians and peers was under the impression they could give him orders...displeased him. Or: He was ordered to pass Team 7. He was fine with that, until they actually passed.
1. Chapter 1

"Jounin Hatake," the Sandaime said when Kakashi entered his office a mere thirty minutes late.

Kakashi raised his gaze from his book and put it into his vest, giving an almost insultingly casual bow as he said, "Hokage-sama." But they both knew his true show of respect was in remaining so relaxed and putting his book away.

"You are due to test a genin team tomorrow. Team Seven this time. I trust you are aware of the members."

"Naturally, Hokage-sama."

"Good, good. I do not need to tell you to give them a real chance?" the Sandaime raised a loaded brow as he lit his pipe.

"All my teams have an equal chance. They simply fail to take it," Kakashi replied laconically, both of them knowing what that surface-compliant statement meant.

"I have been asked to pass on the Council's high expectations for this group. They trust a Team 7 will join the ranks tomorrow. Though I know it is foolish, I also hope that these three will prove themselves."

"I see Hokage-sama. I hear and obey you, Hokage-sama," Kakashi eye-smiled before bowing again at the quick dismissal.

Back in his office, the Sandaime watched him go with regret. Naruto would be crushed at having to go back to the Academy, even after all this, but shinobi like Hatake Kakashi did not take well to the idea a half-civilian council had any say in shinobi matters.

Nor did he, for that matter.

===***===pagebreak===***===

Kakashi eyed the waiting trio from under his concealment jutsu. He had been disappointed yesterday. It was like a fractured mirror of the old Team Seven and there was no way they would pass. But that was probably just as well, he was no Minato-sensei and had failed his teammates enough as it was. No need to drag down three innocent genin with his curse.

Now, though, he was grimly content with the team's intractable nature. When the Hokage had called him to his office yesterday, he had expected a semi-subtle guilt trip to get him to more seriously consider passing the brats. He had not expected the revelation that the Council was completely overstepping their bounds, or the tacit permission of the Hokage to completely disregard those out-of-line orders. This team's complete failure to mesh only made their rejection legitimate enough he couldn't even be reprimanded for it.

Dropping the jutsu, he strolled over with two lunches, a clock and two bells, grinning under his mask at the so sweet shrieks, "YOU'RE LATE!"

_Sorry brats_, he thought as he gleefully explained just how they were going down, _It's for the best._

**Immediately after the exam…**

_Of all the cursed luck, _Kakashi swore mentally as he walked away from a tied-up Naruto. He needed to report to the Hokage, after he told Minato-sensei about his son passing and figured out how the hell he was going to do this.

"Minato-sensei," he greeted, standing on the Yondaime's head, very aware this was Naruto's favorite spot for hard thinking, he had been an ANBU watcher for years after all.

"So the brat's passed, legitimately," Kakashi grimaced, "So now the civilians are going to think they have power over the internal workings of the shinobi forces, because no one is going to believe those three passed a teamwork test, not as is."

Hatake Kakashi stared out over his village, mind jumping in a million different directions as he let his full genius bear down on the problem at hand. The solution he came up with was easy in concept but execution was a whole different batch of kunai. Handling this was going to be a lot of work, and if anything, it was a good thing two of the three had only the bare basics, because he'd be building them from the ground up.

They wouldn't pass a teamwork test as is? Fine. He would make them the _definition_ of teamwork.

"Thanks sensei," he said aloud, turning to leave, "Pray for your son. He'll be needing it before I'm through with him."

===***===pagebreak===***===

"Good morning _mina-san_!" Kakashi beamed exaggeratedly at his next project.

"YOU'RE… on time?" Naruto blinked at him, the other two equally confused and surprised but unwilling to admit it.

"Don't get used to it," Kakashi chirped, "Now listen closely little ducklings. You are caught in a political tug-of-war and will be torn apart, probably one of you dead by the end of the year, so shut up and listen."

Naruto opened his mouth, probably to shout something, but Sakura slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide as she stared at Kakashi. Sasuke tried to act nonchalant but he had obviously tensed at the statement. Good. It'd be up to the next bit to sell it to them all.

"Good, you can learn," Kakashi let his merry tone drop as he stared down at the genin sitting on the bridge.

"You _should_ all be aware that though the Hokage has final word on all decisions there is a Council made up evenly of civilians elected in and shinobi, most also Clan Heads, which assists and advises him. Unless the Hokage wants to have to micromanage everything—which, I assure you, he does _not_—he must allow the Council some word in his decisions. This results in situations like the one you now face."

"Certain parties on the Council believe they have the right to manage the internal workings of the shinobi forces, which they do not. Unfortunately, due to your little last minute team effort, entirely unintentional I am sure, you have strengthened this belief."

Naruto was staring with wide eyes, Sakura's hand still clamped over his mouth. Sasuke was about to speak, but Kakashi silenced him with a look, continuing, "I have _never_ passed a team, because none of the teams I have been assigned have acted as a team. This means when I was assigned you the council assumed I would fail you as well. They…_decided…_ to pass on the extremely strong suggestion that I pass you no matter your ability to work as a team."

"They wanted you to _cheat_?" Sakura asked, aghast, but flushed at Sasuke's withering look. Kakashi cut the boy a sharp glance even though he agreed with the sentiment.

"They wanted me to pass a sub-par team for no reason besides their fan-crushes on the idea of an Uchiha in the shinobi forces again," Kakashi said bluntly.

Naruto was waving his hand in the air frantically and Kakashi sighed, "Yes Naruto?"

Sakura removed her hand as the boy burst, "But we _did_ pass, _dattebayo_! We worked as a team!"

"I know. But no one else does and no one else believes because that was an isolated coincidental incident. Your teamwork is deplorable."

"Deplora-what?" Naruto asked, confusion clear.

"It sucks," Kakashi said flatly.

"Well maybe if Sasuke-teme wasn't such an arrogant asshole—"

"Well maybe if you weren't such a _moron_—"

"DON'T INSULT SASUKE-KUN—"

"Guess I'll start on your eulogies then," Kakashi cut in happily, "How's 'they died as they lived—in ignorance'."

They all shut up and Kakashi took a moment to enjoy the silence, "Much better," he said happily.

"Now I don't like giving certain people the idea they can control the Hokage's commands to his shinobi. It's wrong, stupid and annoying."

"Yeah! No one's the boss of the Old Man!" Naruto shouted, Sakura slapping her hand over his mouth again.

"So I get to prove that you three can do teamwork and can do it _well_. Because if you don't, the Council will think they can jerk us around as they please and you _will_ be torn apart by it," Kakashi's smile was a tooth filled thing that carried to his eye as predatory glee, sending a shiver down his student's spines. "Welcome to hell, brats."

* * *

**A/N: **Started as a one-shot, but is now a multi-chap fic. Hope you enjoy! Cross posted on AO3


	2. Chapter 2

"Right, so, here you go!" Kakashi beamed at the disgruntled genin, all of them glaring at him from where they were tied up in a clearing somewhere in the Forest of Death. "I'll be back in a couple days. Don't die now!"

**Day 3**

"These are edible, right Sakura-chan?" Naruto cheered, holding out a handful of plants to the grimacing girl. They'd been dropped off in this weird forest with giant monster bugs and animals two days ago with only what they'd had on them the day of their second meeting.

Sasuke had stormed off to find a way out, Sakura following him but getting waylaid by a giant centipede. Naruto had burst in screaming about how he was going to defend his precious Sakura-chan, killed the centipede by luck, and had (after some shouting) helped dress Sakura's injuries with medicinal herbs she pointed out and fabric from his bright orange jacket.

"Yeah, those are good," she frowned, taking the reeds, "I can strip off the rough dermis and we can eat the softer core. Between them and the pine-nut stash we found, we should be okay for today and tomorrow, especially with the stream."

"Woohoo! You're so smart Sakura-chan! How do you know all these things?" Naruto beamed at her and she groaned, "Can you be a little _quieter_ baka! We don't need more of those giant bugs coming after us!"

"Oh, sorry," he whispered exagerattedly, the sound probably carrying just as far. Sakura just sighed and slumped, wishing her Sasuke-kun had stuck around.

**Day 4**

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn."

"Haha! Look whose stuck in a tree! How long you been stuck there asshole? Huh? Well guess what, _I_ saved Sakura-chan and we've had plenty of food! Jerk."

"Stop insulting him baka!"

"Hey! He ditched you and didn't try to help with the centipede thing! Why are you _defending_ him?"

"…Because he's Sasuke-kun! Now get him down!"

"Tch, fine. Crazy woman."

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

**Day 5**

"Gah! Why are you being so _stupid_?!"

"What are you talking about? I'm just patrolling!"

"Loudly enough anyone can hear you a mile away, baka."

"SHUT UP TEME!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!"

"…"

"Naruto. Stop being so loud, we can hear you just fine, and so can anything else in the blasted forest. Sasuke, stop being so rude, he's at least making an effort. If you don't want to be with the group so bad, then just leave."

Hiding in the trees above them (basically sitting there with a low-level genjutsu on, more for his own peace of mind than any worry over them actually detecting him) Kakashi was pleasantly surprised. Who'd have expected her to snap out of it so fast? Nothing like being abandoned to possible death by a love-interest to squash that particular fantasy.

**Day 6**

"I can't take it anymore. Sakura! Seriously! _Eat the meat_."

Naruto had found a group of bug-larvae he'd eaten before (in one of his more… adventurous escapades) and even had whined Sasuke into lighting a fire with a jutsu to cook them. Heck, Sasuke even found some herbs Sakura recognized as cooking seasonings, so they tasted great! Texture was a bit weird, but they were pretty good and _great_ with those reeds he kept finding everywhere!

And Sakura was just turning up her nose at it!

"It's disgusting!"

"It's _protein_!" Naruto nearly wailed, barely remembering to keep his voice somewhat down, "You can barely walk the whole day Sakura-chan! You have like, zero energy! _Eat it!_"

"Why are we walking?" Sasuke asked abruptly, looking up from his larvae-steak.

"To get the hell _out of – _mmpfh!" Sakura began, before Naruto shoved a chunk of cooked larvae in her mouth, which she refused to spit out, so she glared mutely as she chewed.

"Yeah, but we have no idea where we're supposed to be going to get out. This place goes on _forever_," the Uchiha said, surprising them both with fully articulated sentences. "We should just find a water-source, like that river a day's walk back, and walk along it till we find a securable area. Set up a base-camp or something."

"Huh. That's pretty smart, teme."

"Says the class idiot."

"Hey! Who got dinner? Huh? Don't see you complaining about those pranks and adventures when you're eating the rewards!"

**Day 7**

"We're here!" Naruto beamed, Sakura mumbling from where she was draped over Naruto's shoulder, having been exhausted after half a day's walk. "Hey teme, we made it!"

"Yeah, I think someone in _Kumo_ didn't hear you!" Sasuke growled, "It's too muddy here. Let's go further downstream and find someplace solid."

"We could always just hide in trees, these things are huge!" Naruto pointed out.

"And we'll climb them that high _how_ exactly?"

"Oh that's easy! Just use your kunai!"

"…Huh."

**Day 8**

Kakashi was pleasantly surprised. They were all alive. And not only that, they were reasonably codependent. Naruto and Sasuke had built a reasonable shelter, Sakura had been reasonably treated and was identifying edible and non-edible plants regularly, as well as having them collect medical herbs against future use. They seemed to have found some regular food sources, in larvae and fish. Good. Good progress for their first week.

Now for some actual training.

"UP AND AT 'EM!" Kakashi roared, all of them jumping, the two sleeping genin squawking in shock as they jerked awake. He had already healed Sakura's injuries as she was awake and on watch, the girl failing to alert them when she recognized him. He'd have to cure her of that, but for now it was convenient.

"Right. So. You lived. I'm pleasantly surprised," he scowled down at them, "Now that you've shown you're not _completely_ useless, I can proceed to demonstrate how inequitably useless you _are._ Sakura. Run from here to the river and back, then keep doing it until I say you can stop."

She opened her mouth to object, but his glare silenced her and she mutely took off for the river again.

"Sasuke, climb that tree by pumping chakra into your feet and sticking. Too much, you blast off and blow holes in the tree. Too little, you fall. For every hole you put in that tree, you do twenty one handed push-ups."

He didn't even attempt to object, just going to stare at a tree as he figured out how he was going to do this.

"Naruto. Run through your taijutsu katas. They suck and I will fix them."

By the time the sun rose, Sakura had dropped from exhaustion and only managed to weakly drag herself around the clearing to cool her muscles down, Sasuke had made it halfway up the tree and done so many push-ups his arms wouldn't twitch without extreme effort, and Naruto had finally gotten the first two katas down in the correct form.

"Sakura," Kakashi barked, the pink-haired girl jumping at his tone, and he smirked, "You get to practice stamina this time. Run as much as you can, every day. None of this carrying you nonsense that was going on this week. You walk there yourself or you _don't get there_. Clear? Good."

"Sasuke. You'd best be getting to the top of those trees by the next time I show up. And who knows? It might be tomorrow night. So get practicing."

"Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke both know these katas. Sakura in technique, Sasuke in practice. By the time I get back, you'd best be able to run through the _entire_ academy sequence with no errors at full-speed. Again, it might be as soon as tomorrow."

"Now, good work kids! You're making progress!" Kakashi beamed before vanishing, leaving a gaping trio of genin in a slowly sunlit clearing.

He wasn't a _complete _asshole though. He did leave them some ration bars.

**Day 11**

"We are _so _lucky Kakashi-sensei didn't come back yet!" Sakura groaned as Naruto tangled his feet together and faceplanted running through the final kata, _again_.

"This clearly isn't working," Sasuke grunted, "Hey, _dobe_, spar with me! I'll use academy style too, maybe if you actually see how the proper style _works better_ than whatever the hell you're doing, it'll sink in."

"And I'm next!" Sakura insisted, "Sparring's a different way to train stamina, right?"

"Maybe you should try that tree thing Sasuke was doing," Naruto recommended, "You're really smart, maybe you'll have some ideas how he can get higher, or I can even stick?"

"…Good idea," she acknowledged reluctantly, going to stare at a tree for a while.

**Day 13**

"Huh. You did it!" Naruto cheered, "You got to the top! That's awesome! _And_ I got through those katas!"

"At three-quarter speed," Sakura refuted from her perch on a tree near Sasuke's recent victory. "So go through them again, and faster! Then we'll spar!"

"I'll keep climbing this tree, make sure it's not a once-off," Sasuke stated, starting his slow walk back down, Sakura racing down easily to join Naruto on the ground.

Kakashi rubbed his hands together in glee, they were coming together nicely. What should he give them to chew on next?

**Day 15**

"So, you don't suck _as_ badly anymore," he informed the newly exhausted group after he tested them all on their recent progress (in all fields he'd assigned, naturally, as the lesson was teamwork). "Have some chocolate."

"I love you!" Sakura blurted as she stared at the chocolate bar in her hand, before flushing brilliantly at the confused looks the boys shot her and glaring. They quickly turned back to their sensei and decided to not question it.

"Mah mah, you have very low standards Sakura-chan. Now. For the next sessions. Naruto – good job on the taijutsu. Keep practicing it in spars, your bad habits come through. The academy taijutsu is a good basis, we'll develop one more suited to you from those building blocks later on. For now, that will have to do. Sasuke, good on the trees, nice initiative with the jumping and sparring on tree-branches though I suspect Naruto had more to do with that particular development. Keep it up and work on the next stage, which is walking on water. Similar principle. Have at it."

"Sakura, keep working on your stamina and keep up the tree-walking and water-walking. They build up chakra reserves, and yours are pitiful."

"You have three days to make significant progress. If I'm not satisfied, I sic one of those giant tigers on you. Clear?"

"CLEAR!"

**Day 18**

"Hmmm… adequate, I suppose," Kakashi shrugged, all three slumping with relief at his declaration. "Keep at the water-walking, all of you. Naruto, good initiative on the traps. You get to teach these two a trap each, different for each one, and they have to set it independently before my next visit, which could be tomorrow, could be a few days. You decide what you'll risk for time, because you also need to master water-walking to spar on it like Sakura and Sasuke, and straighten out the last bit of your taijutsu. Bye now!"

He was reasonably content with the fact it only took Naruto until that evening to figure out shadow-clones could teach too. When Sakura got frustrated with hers and dispelled it, Naruto fell through the water he was wobbling on and came up spluttering his own insults, which, after some amusing shouting and dramatic arm-waving, drew the three to the realization shadow-clones could relay information to their originator.

He even came up with more clones for water-walking himself. If he realized that they really helped in chakra control because of their nature as constructs of chakra or if he just thought learning was learning whatever worked remained to be seen, but he would count it as a win for this session.

Besides, Sakura and Sasuke didn't set their traps yet. He'd visit tomorrow and get that tiger on them. They could use the encouragement.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hatake?" Anko asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't you be monitoring your brats?"

"A clone is," he waved off idly, cup of warm sake in hand. "Can't stay out there all the time you know, it's not like I am the one trying to be whipped into shape."

She just snorted, knowing very well his personal training regimes were, while not quite on the order of Gai's self-improvement efforts, quite demanding. "Well, you're going to want to be attending to those kiddos personally, and soon," she informed him, "Because we've got an escapee that was heading that way."

"Escapee?" Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow, "An actual one or a hope-crushing gambit?"

"Actual, unfortunately," Anko grimaced, "I'm about to head out and hunt, just wanted to give you a heads up."

"Right – thanks Anko," Kakashi shot back the rest of his sake, mourning its wasted quality as he tossed his payment onto the bar and vanished out the door. He wasn't too concerned, his clone could at least delay things or lead the escapee away, but it wasn't a good idea to just leave them out there unobserved with a threat like that in the offing. He wanted them to get their act together, not kill them. It'd been just about three weeks, they'd made decent progress and at least could tolerate each other, so he'd probably be pulling them out of the Forest soon and getting them onto a strict training regime.

Of course, the last time he'd designed a training regime it had been for introductory ANBU soldiers and re-integration training for long-term undercover agents, so he'd have to wait and see just what he could come up with for genin.

Meh, they'd live.

Naruto was terrified. He didn't show it – he was good at that – but he was genuinely terrified. First they had passed, miracle of miracles, then Kakashi-sensei had told them that people, _powerful_ people, wanted them dead. He may not be the sharpest kunai in the drawer, but he knew that of the three of them, he was the one that was the most disposable. Sasuke was an Uchiha, the last one in the village, so he'd be a priority for the powerful people here.

Sakura, while from a civilian background, was the top of their class, and relations between shinobi and civilians could get rough so her being on a power team like this was a big bonus on that front.

Then there was him. Dead-last demon-container. If they got sent on missions that were just too hard for them, that they weren't ready for, he'd be more likely to live because he could heal really fast. But if he survived a mission that killed Sakura-chan or, kami forbid, Sasuke-teme?

He didn't think he'd last very long.

That didn't even take into account their past weeks in this freaking awesomely-cool-yet-scary forest. He'd saved Sakura-chan from a giant centipede, for all the gratitude he got, and she'd been super smart and helped find edible plants so they wouldn't be _too_ hungry (he missed ramen _so much_), but then Sasuke-teme had gotten stuck and he'd had to fish him out of a tree too. He'd only grudgingly admit this in his head, and never aloud, but the Uchiha was more use than Sakura-chan, edible plant knowledge or no.

Then randomly their oni of a sensei (but he'd at least been honest and was trying and Naruto really didn't want to think about that too hard) showed up and started teaching them all something. Well, him and Sasuke something, he just made Sakura-chan run a lot (she needed it). And they'd managed to meet his requirements the first few times (by a miracle, really) which made Naruto wonder if their sensei was spying on them, to make sure they always _just_ passed and _just_ finished, so they'd always feel that pressure. He didn't doubt that if they started slacking, the man would show up and they'd regret it forever.

So he'd taught them traps. He'd taught them traps, gotten good at water-walking, sent clones out to search for food and an exit now that he knew they could give him memories, and they might even impress sensei enough to get ramen – he'd brought chocolate, right? So there was some hope!

Sasuke and Sakura were both working at building traps around the campsite, though none of them really thought their sensei would get caught in them, it was worth a shot, right? Besides, they had been told they needed to learn, so learn they would. Anything to hopefully bribe their way out of here and to a shower, real bed, and ramen.

Man he needed to stop thinking about ramen, he was trying to do katas on water and needed his concentra – _knife to throat who the hell what just not Konoha not Konoha NOT KONOHA!_ – Naruto flailed in the water and spluttered, shouting in dismay before he managed to clench his jaw shut and scramble for shore. He needed to get to the others!

Sopping wet, he left his bright orange jacket (dirty and cut up for bandages as it was) on the shoreline and ran for the campsite. "Guys!" he called, trying to keep his voice down but needing to find them _fast_, nearly shouting in relief when he spotted a head of pink hair building a foot-snare.

"Sakura-chan!" he hissed, the girl looking up and blinking at him, "Naruto?" she asked, "What's wrong now?"

"One of my clones just got _slaughtered_ by some foreign nin," Naruto hissed, wide-eyed, "Where's Sasuke-teme, we need to arm the traps and get into some trees!"

If it were just him and Sasuke, he'd try and go for the foreign-nin, probably. He'd at least spam clones and send them after him, but with Sakura-chan here, and with them not having eaten or slept really well for a while, no new supplies forthcoming, it'd be better to hide and wait. If Kakashi-sensei was watching like he thought (knew, hoped, whatever) then he'd be here soon and they'd be able to just wait.

"Right," she nodded, wide-eyed as well, quickly covering up her snare and darting over to where Sasuke and another clone were insulting each other over their work. "Shh!" she hissed, "There's a foreign-nin in here that just killed Naruto's clone! We need to hide!"

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at Naruto, who nodded in confirmation, dread settling in his gut when he recognized that arrogant smirk. Shit, the teme thought he could go deal with this guy himself. Damn it, Naruto was tempted too but they couldn't just _ditch_ Sakura to go find this guy, odds were they'd miss him and Sakura would face him alone!

"What direction is he coming from?" Sasuke demanded and Naruto narrowed his eyes before shaking his head, "Not telling you, teme. Not if you're going after him."

Sasuke glowered, snarling, "I need to see how much I've advanced! We've sparred, you've gotten better at least, you have those clones, we can take him!"

"We don't even know who this guy is, he could be some ANBU type ninja, which we are totally not up for," Naruto refuted, unable to believe that this was coming out of his mouth but knowing he had to convince Sasuke this was a _stupid_ idea. No one could go off by themselves, they had no idea where this guy was now because it was doubtful that he'd stayed where he'd killed Naruto's clone, and they had enough threats on their lives without seeking out a _new one_ when they totally _weren't ready_.

"Fine then! I'll find him _myself! _You _coward_!" Sasuke spat, turning on his heel and sprinting off, Sakura crying, "Sasuke-kun! Wait!" but not running after him.

Naruto swore, and nodded to his clone, who took off after him. That one would at least try and persuade him and if that didn't work, try knocking him out. He needed to stay with Sakura and get her settled and hidden, then maybe he could risk going after that arrogant asshole.

"Come on Sakura, let's get to the hide," Naruto said shortly, reaching for her arm, but Sakura spun around and _glared_ at him, "No!" she said passionately, "We're going after Sasuke-kun!"

"Why?" Naruto glared back, frustration at his crush's inexplicable affection for an asshole who would barely give her the time of day finally boiling over, "Why are you so _loyal_ to him? He thinks you're an annoying, useless, weakling who's holding him back! He thinks_ everyone_ is an annoying weakling who's holding him back! I teach him about traps, about stealth, hunt for food, and he calls me dobe, he calls me weak and useless! What do you think he thinks about _you_ Sakura-chan? Huh?"

"We go after him, and we get _killed_," Naruto frowned, crossing his arms and glaring at his feet, "I don't want you dying here."

"Well it's _my_ life, and we're supposed to be a team!" Sakura glared back at him, bright red, "We _are_ a team, so we're going after him! Even if he doesn't think we're a team, we are! So let's _go_!"

Naruto wavered, before slumping and agreeing quietly. What did it, honestly? She said 'we'. He was part of the team too. Personally, he doubted she'd be so ardent about going after _him_ if _he'd_ been the one to run off, but with that 'we' floating out there, he could at least pretend.

Following after her (if she set the pace, it'd take longer to get there, which was all to the good in his opinion) he glanced up at the trees worriedly and anxiously awaited a bursting clone. Hopefully sensei really was watching all this time, they could really use the help.

Kakashi was flying across the roofs, nearly at the Forest of Death. He'd left two clones in the Forest in case one dispelled on accident, and one had dispelled itself after the three _idiots_ decided to go after an unknown-strength foreign-nin who'd already 'killed' one of their own. He'd been told Sasuke was _sensible_, was a _prodigy_ but this was absolute _stupidity_. Naruto had been the voice of reason, of all people, and had only agreed to go after him when Sakura had made a somewhat impassioned speech about teamwork. He was glad they had at least gotten that piece down (though if they'd have done the same had _Naruto_ run off remained to be seen) but Sasuke was going to have this arrogance _beat out of him_ if it was the _only _and _last_ thing he learned.

Leaving them to their own devices seemed to have gotten as far as it could. When this was over – _if_ they survived and Sasuke had some sense beat into him – he'd be getting them out of the forest and having them report for the training regimen of their worst _nightmares_ the following morning those little _brats_.

He finally hit the Forest of Death, heading straight for where his clone had a tracking seal in its pocket, hoping that the kids were still far away from the escapee, when memories hit. He expertly sorted through them and swore aloud, sending another burst of chakra into his legs and accelerating to nigh-unbelievable speeds. They'd actually managed to _find_ the asshole.

Sasuke had gotten there first, the Naruto clone following him staying out of the way until the idiot genin was almost skewered, where the more sensible clone jumped in to try and interfere or at least buy some time. The clone was dispelled rather quickly, but before clone-Kakashi could jump down and deal with it, Sakura and Naruto-the-real-one burst into the clearing and Sakura didn't even think, flying for Sasuke with a cry while Naruto at least focused on the _important part_ of the entire thing.

The dead-last was the one he had to work with the least, how was that even possible?

Sasuke shoved Sakura off with glares and grumbles, launching into the fray with Naruto, the pair exhibiting good instinctive double-teaming but not up to a jounin-level opponent even after the loving care of T&I. Didn't help that Sakura was just _standing there_, sure, a kunai in hand, but she looked about as useful as a helpless damsel in some television drama. It'd be a great way to lure people in, if it weren't actually _the truth_.

At this point Kakashi-clone intervened, deflecting a shuriken heading for a hopelessly slow (and out of breath, seriously?) Sakura before involving himself in the fight. He'd at least managed to fend the man off and give him pause when Sasuke was tossed his way and he could either dodge (and let him break a leg with how the kid was failing to correct his fall) or get dispelled.

The clone dispelled, and Naruto was now fighting alone. Shit.

Kakashi, unlike his idiot students, knew the value of intelligence, so paused, dropped down from his tree and suppressed his chakra. He had trained with Gai in chakra-suppressed subterfuge and shinobi arts after the man had managed to actually sneak up on him some years ago, so he would be fine and the advantage would be worth the inconvenience.

He quickly reached the forcibly cleared area and paused, light genjutsu keeping them from noticing him and assessed the situation meaningfully in moments.

It was shit. Sakura was being held by the escapee, the man's shaking hands holding a kunai to her throat, a deep gash on her face and tears leaking out of her eyes. Sasuke and Naruto were both standing there, both deeply shaken and Naruto, at least, visibly furious.

"Throw down your weapons, little genin," the man taunted, Kakashi recognizing him as an Iwa infiltrator brought in three weeks ago from Otafaku Gai. Lovely, this was just getting _better_.

Both boys hesitated, but reluctantly obeyed and Kakashi at least felt somewhat proud of them. They were still utterly screwed once he got them out of this. He quickly drifted around so he was in the Iwa-nin's blind spot, finding one of Naruto's clones lurking in a bush while he was there. Tapping the clone by the shoulder, he nodded shortly at the clone's relieved look and handed a treasured old, never-used kunai to him. With quick, overly obvious hand-signs (efficient sign-language, now on the list) he indicated the clone was to throw it into the ground at the enemy-nin's feet to distract him on Kakashi's signal. The clone nodded and crept around a bit so he was still in sight but had an angle for that kind of shot.

Kakashi flexed his hands thoughtfully, listening to taunts and shaken demands before nodding sharply and shooting forward, kunai landing in front of the Iwa-nin who had just enough time to shout in alarm when – _crack_ – he was dead, neck snapped and Sakura shoving the arm away and stepping away, shuddering as she stared between Kakashi and the dead shinobi in shock.

Naruto got a distant look on his face before stepping forward and picking up the decoy kunai, Kakashi unable to entirely ignore the pang at seeing him blankly pick up a sealed kunai he should have recognized, he should have _known_. "Here Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, cleaning the kunai and handing it back, Kakashi accepting it with a nod and looking the three over. Sakura was shaking in shock, cut across her left eye still bleeding but her gaze tracked his motion so at least her eye itself wasn't damaged, skittering off her skull he would guess.

Sasuke was pale but sullen, fists clenched at his side and standing at a rough approximation of attention, bruises blossoming and scrapes oozing drops of blood. Naruto had some bruising and scrapes but they were already fading, Kakashi watching with some jealousy. Bloody Uzumaki constitution was good enough as it was, add in the fox's regenerative capabilities and it just wasn't fair.

"The three of you, are quite possibly the _luckiest_ _morons_ I have ever had the displeasure of working with," Kakashi said lowly, dangerously. Naruto looked mulish, probably resenting it when he'd actually tried to be sensible, he'd have to correct that, but the genin didn't say anything (the boy was a fast learner outside the classroom, it seemed).

Sasuke, his little genius, actually tried to argue. He _actually tried to object_. That arrogant little shit, who the hell had been fluffing his ego so damn much? Oh, that's right, _everyone_. This was going to be a _fun_ lesson to teach.

Not even listening, he blurred forward and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, lifting him off his feet and _shaking_ him. A punch would have been nice, but he didn't know how badly he'd actually been injured and worsening cracked ribs would not put him into anyone's good books. The genin shut up, shocked, and Kakashi tossed him away, Sasuke rolling and scrambling back to his feet, Kakashi flaring his killing intent to keep him quiet.

"Shut up," he whispered, voice still carrying clearly in the clearing, "You are a _disgrace_. Your teammate tells you a threat of unknown strength, clearly more than capable of taking out one of your teammates, even in less-than-solid form, and you decided to _test yourself_? Oh yes," he nodded at Sasuke's startled look, barely there but too obvious for him, "I heard all of that. Wanted to _test your capacity_ hmm?"

Sasuke blanched, swaying at the somewhat cruel reference but Kakashi couldn't bring himself to care. This little shit had nearly gotten his teammates killed because he was an _idiot_. He deserved every bit of it right now, and needed to realize just what the hell he had almost done.

"Naruto, escort your teammate to your camp and wait there for me to collect you," Kakashi ordered the orange-wearing genin, who nodded with a hesitant glance at Sakura, who was still shaking.

Kakashi stepped over to her and scooped her up into his arms, the pink-haired girl curling into his chest and shuddering, tears running down her face still. He almost sighed, comforting was _not_ a particular talent of his, but she seemed willing to take what little he could manage. "I will be taking Sakura-chan to the hospital. Once she is settled I will come back for you."

Naruto nodded at that, clearly relieved, and Kakashi took off, trusting them to at least not be complete morons. He'd have to report the Iwa-nin's death when he got there too, but that shouldn't take more than a few moments. If he was feeling particularly generous, he wouldn't mention Sasuke's moronic move in the written report and make the entire thing sound like an accident. The Sandaime would hear the truth, of course. He'd probably be rather pleased with Naruto's progress.

Sakura was _furious_. Sensei had rescued her, and the boys had tried, but she'd been utterly _useless_. By the time the medics got to her, she'd managed to stop crying and sensei even _stayed_ with her, sending a clone off to report the death of that foreign-nin and then collect the boys. The sympathetic nurse helped clean her face of all the blood and a medic-nin came by and said quietly that he'd be able to heal it, but there would be a scar. It was just too ragged of a cut.

She only nodded, still internally fuming. Inner Sakura was ranting and raving and _screaming_ about how useless she'd been, about how _helpless_ she'd been. What good was being the top kunoichi if all she could do was stand there and shake and cry and look pretty? What good was working for Sasuke-kun if she probably wouldn't even live through being on a team with him?

"Sensei?" she asked finally, looking up after the medic-nin had left to fetch some cream that would at least help with the scar before letting her go. The silver-haired man looked up from where he was sitting in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs, reading his orange book, and tilted his head to the side in mute question.

"Do you think – I could use a genjutsu?" she asked, waving a hand at her face and biting her lip at his raised eyebrow, elaborating, "My parents – I – I don't want them to be upset. And we were just _training_ if I can just keep it up until we have a mission then – I mean. They won't be too angry."

"While I do think you have the chakra control necessary for a genjutsu, you don't have the reserves for such a long-term one. It's going to be a _long_ time before you three go on a mission where you could conceivably get a scar."

She still stared at him stubbornly, before lowering her gaze to her hands. Her sensei sighed and said, "I can teach it to you, on the understanding that if your parents find out, you are responsible for this and I advised against it. In fact, I will disown teaching you the genjutsu and say I thought you had informed them of the incident and even told them to feel free to contact me. Understood?"

Sakura nodded, looking up at him hopefully and eagerly listening to his basic explanation of genjutsu in general and the one she would be applying – a less extensive and longer lasting _henge_ – in particular. She could tell that if she went through with this and it didn't work, and her parents did find out, she'd be in even bigger trouble, but she had to try. She _had to_.

Besides, if she did this, and made it last, that would make her chakra reserves bigger, right? It would be good practice, and she needed to get better.

Kakashi watched his female genin out of the corner of his eye as they made their way to Naruto's apartment. His clone had reported the death and given a basic outline of what had happened, but had requested the evening to go over things with his genin and been granted it. Fetching Naruto and Sasuke, who had been sullenly glaring at each other in their campsite, he called team-meeting and Naruto offered his place with only mild urging. Kakashi didn't want any of these brats knowing where he lived just yet, that was for certain.

Sakura was a bit of a surprise. Apparently what he'd mistaken for shock and terror was that, yes, but also with a more-than-usual dose of self-directed rage. Her initiative with the genjutsu was a pleasant surprise. It was currently on and making it appear she hadn't been injured at all, though she still looked tired and dirty; that was the difference between this one and henge, it didn't change her whole appearance, just taking a fragment to illusion and letting the otherwise natural looks seep through.

It wasn't used too often, but Kakashi was probably the one who used it most. Making his eyes match and changing his hair color was much less chakra-intensive and a ridiculously effective disguise.

It'd be interesting if she actually managed to ration her genjutsu use appropriately to keep it from her parents. He probably wasn't supposed to encourage deception from parents but he was a shinobi, lies were what he did, and besides that, he agreed with her. Their pretty little daughter coming home scarred for life from training was not exactly something they would be happy about. Not that they could do anything, until she served for six years she was stuck. It was in the contract of the academy, and she'd both graduated and passed his test so there was no way out for her.

On one level, he felt a little bad for those who got into this sort of position and were truly unsuited for shinobi life. On another, he didn't really care all that much because they had signed on for it, and six year olds were perfectly capable of making life-changing decisions. He'd done that and more at the same age, after all. They had to take responsibility for their agreements.

They reached Naruto's apartment and he sighed. He'd worked with Naruto as a guard before, but seeing the boy live in this apartment complex by himself, when he clearly _wasn't_ ready for it, as even he would now admit he hadn't been at the age Naruto started, had been painful. Was painful, really, especially with how much potential he was finding the boy had if someone had just _taught_ him. All of them had potential, but Naruto's was just easier for him to see and plan around. And honestly appeared to need less work to draw out – bit of attention, some basic guidance, and a looming threat – done. The other two… well. It would depend on how long this initiative of Sakura's last.

Sasuke though – oh yes. He would take quite a bit of work indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sakura!" Naruto clearly looked relieved as he opened the door for them, Sasuke sitting at the table with a half-eaten bowl of instant ramen in front of him, Naruto's chair indicated by the impressive stack of empty ramen cups. "Do you want any ramen? Tea?"

"Both, please," Sakura replied immediately, apparently deciding that the idea of _real food _(Kakashi scoffed mentally, ramen was decent enough, but much less nutritious than what they'd been eating in the forest) was worth being polite for.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked, Kakashi shutting the door behind them and adding a security jutsu almost absent-mindedly. "Tea, please, Naruto-kun," he replied, taking a seat across from Sasuke, who refused to meet his eyes and instead glared at his ramen cup.

Kakashi let the silence rest, until Naruto came back with their ramen and tea, taking his own seat with yet another cup of ramen. It wasn't until Sakura had started eating that Kakashi finally spoke, saying flatly, "Explain."

Sasuke's shoulders tensed – he would say _hunched_, but the Uchiha remembered enough of his clans stoicism to refrain from being that clearly defensive – and he replied stiffly, "I was trying to improve our teamwork and get us out of the forest faster."

_Fuck. That made sense_, Kakashi realized, face and body-language giving nothing of his surprise away. Mentally reviewing what he had observed personally and witnessed through his clones, that fit rather well with the assessment he had of Sasuke at this stage. He was still confident enough in his position as top-dog within the genin hierarchy of their team to not feel threatened to the point of affirming his authority with a stupid stunt, it was one of the reasons Kakashi had been so _angry_ at Sasuke's decision. He hadn't expected anything like this until one of the others showed significant progress and risked challenging Sasuke's position.

"How the fuck was _that_ going to improve our teamwork?!" Naruto demanded, Sakura scolding him for language (she was ignored).

"Kakashi-sensei did the same thing!" Sasuke snapped back, "Setting us against a superior opponent and forcing us to rely on one another to defeat them! It was the only time we actually worked together, even this whole time in the Forest we only worked together when he forced us to with threats! I thought if we proved we could work together to take down an opponent we would prove we'd learned our lesson and get out of the forest faster!"

He clearly hesitated before continuing reluctantly, "I also assumed that Kakashi-sensei had actually sent the foreign-nin into our sphere of influence as a test and I didn't want to fail."

_…Fuck._ He actually would do something like that too, if not with an actual escaped prisoner, Kakashi reluctantly admitted, almost ruefully amused, since the consequences of this misunderstanding had been so relatively mild. He had a hell of a lot to learn about being a sensei it seemed, because while they had managed to work together (and in such a way he could easily list the prisoner death as a genin-team effort and provide some proof positive that he wasn't obeying the council) this level of miscommunication was not something that could continue.

"And you couldn't have _said_ something?" Sakura demanded, Naruto agreeing and adding, "Kakashi-sensei was observing the whole time, probably. If you'd _said_ something he could have stopped us and said it wasn't some weird stupid test!"

Before the argument could erupt and make this situation worse, Kakashi interrupted and said calmly, "It appears, then, that I owe you all an apology."

All three genin silenced at that and turned to look at him, Naruto at least going gratifyingly bug-eyed at his now empty tea-cup.

"Naruto," he started, looking over at him, "First, I wanted to acknowledge that you had the right idea, taking your teammates and going to ground and waiting for orders. It is not a move I expected you to make at this point in time, so it is a very good sign. Well done."

Naruto blinked at him for a few moments before giving a small, brilliant smile at the acknowledgement that Kakashi took heart in even while cursing the laws that kept his tongue tied with his sensei's son. Turning next to Sasuke, he continued, "To you, Sasuke, I must first apologize for not hearing you out immediately after the incident was concluded. I can only offer that I was stressed, angry, and worried for your and your teammates' safety and health."

The Uchiha heir paused briefly before acknowledging the apology with a short nod. Kakashi made a mental note to keep an eye on him because this would be a potential source of bitterness (damn and blast the Sandaime was going to be _pissed_).

Finally he turned to Sakura and said, "For you Sakura, I can only offer a blanket apology that my clones did not interfere immediately when you all took off for the shinobi. It was deemed unlikely all three of you would stop without the clone dispelling, leaving you with no back-up whatsoever until I got there with no means of easily finding you."

He made a mental note to give them tracking seals, he should have thought of that sooner.

Turning so he could capture all three of them in his limited field of vision, he said, "Now, so that this will not happen again. I will _never_ unexpectedly set you against a foreign ninja within Konoha. If you are encountered by a foreign-nin with hostile intent in Konoha itself, immediately assume they are truly _hostile_ and determine the appropriate course of action from there, the end goal at this stage in your training being your own survival."

There, that should clear the air somewhat. Now for the next piece, which was difficult for him to admit to them but they needed to hear.

"Also, you three need to realize that I did not pass any genin team before you, not only because they were not acting as a team, but because I did not want to be a sensei," he said bluntly, "I did not, and do not, think that I would be the best sensei. I am considered something of a genius myself, I am not particularly good at explaining things which I find nearly instinctive. I was assigned students repeatedly in the hopes that I would pass on my talents and abilities, which I would not mind doing, but not to genin. Few of my techniques and tactics are appropriate for genin-level shinobi and none are appropriate for students straight out of the Academy. Of the teams which I failed, three have passed other sensei's exam and are doing rather well."

He wanted to grit his teeth around this last secret, this last fact, but knew that if it came to light in some other way, the potential bitterness in Sasuke would explode forward and he'd never get the boy back.

The genin, at least, did not interrupt and waited the few moments it took him to come to terms with so blatantly stating his shortcomings as a sensei.

"The last person I taught in any formal manner was Uchiha Itachi," he finally said, watching Sasuke carefully as he said this and unsurprised when the boy went completely rigid, staring at him with wide, almost hurt eyes, "It has… somewhat ruined me, for teaching anyone, after what he did with my teachings."

"Err…" Naruto said into the silence that had fallen, "Not to be – uh – stupid, or anything, but… who's Uchiha Itachi? Besides a relative of Sasuke, I mean. That's kind of obvious."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, indicating that it was up to him to answer. He didn't think the boy would react well to Kakashi handing out secrets he'd held close to his chest, and he needed to get the Uchiha to at least somewhat trust him again after he'd apparently completely botched this entire affair.

Maybe he could get a clone to report to the Sandaime?

"…He is my brother," Sasuke admitted reluctantly, "And he killed my family."

"What an asshole. He the guy you want to kill?" Naruto said immediately, Sasuke nodding shortly, entire body tense.

"Well we'll help if we can," Naruto promised, turning to Sakura and asking, "Right Sakura-chan?"

"Right," Sakura said, voice surprisingly firm as she spoke directly to her crush, before turning to look up at Kakashi and saying, "And we'll tell you if we don't get something, sensei. And we can help explain things to each other – I helped these guys with the tree-climbing exercise, and Sasuke was really good at explaining taijutsu to Naruto, and Naruto taught us traps. We can teach each other too. And you're not a bad sensei, you taught me that genjutsu really fast!"

"Genjutsu?" both boys perked up, eyeing Sakura curiously, "What genjutsu?" Naruto asked.

Sakura hesitated before nodding determinedly and dropping the jutsu, both boys blanching at the blatant scar crossing her face. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, truly distressed, but apparently unable to think of anything to say.

"…Sorry," Sasuke mumbled, Kakashi counting that as a definite win. Even if Sasuke hadn't been the moron he'd thought initially, he at least acknowledged that his plan had consequences and not the type he'd wanted, and was willing to accept responsibility for them.

"It's okay, Sasuke-kun, Naruto," Sakura raised her chin, continuing, "The genjutsu's just until we get a mission out of the village. I didn't want my parents to know I'd gotten permanently scarred while in _training_."

"Right," Kakashi finally said, dragging the conversation back on track, "So. I will report this encounter as a successful team-mission for Team 7. That should give us some breathing room with the council, but the threat is by no means over. You will report to training ground 7 tomorrow at six. When I arrive later, I expect you to have warmed up, worked on what you learned in the forest, and worked out at least one team attack strategy for the Iwa shinobi."

He waited for them to nod before continuing, "Then, we will do team training until lunch. During lunch, expect a theory lecture of some sort. You will be expected to intelligently discuss the topic after we conclude the afternoon's D-rank missions, which are little more than glorified chores. In the ones which allow for conversation, you can discuss and debate those topics depending on appropriateness in preparation for the concluding discussion. Any questions?"

They all exchanged looks, before Sasuke spoke up, "Not right now sensei. Can we ask tomorrow?"

"You can always ask me questions, on anything. However, you will need to accept that some answers will be along the lines of 'classified', and even 'I don't want to tell you'. Understood?"

"Yes sensei," they chorused. Kakashi was satisfied. With any luck, this policy of frank discussion of reality would keep the team grounded and united, and prevent misunderstandings of the sort that had started this whole mess.

"Good. Sakura, Sasuke, I or my clone will escort you home," he informed them, nodding to Naruto, "Naruto, have a good night, and I will see you tomorrow morning."

"See you then, sensei, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme," Naruto replied, light tone on the insult echoed in Sasuke's smirking nod and returned, "Dobe."

Kakashi was tempted to roll his eye, but refrained and simply created a shadow clone, that clone accompanying Sakura, recently applied genjutsu and all, to her parent's home, while he decided to escort Sasuke personally. He needed to give the boy a chance to respond to what had happened without his teammates as witnesses and even though shadow clones really were perfect reflections, people still had a tendency to prefer to talk to the 'real' person.

They had made it back to the Uchiha compound itself when Sasuke finally spoke, "Sensei, did you really train Itachi?"

"He was my subordinate in ANBU," Kakashi replied, knowing that Sasuke had known of Itachi's position within the elite unit and that his own presence in the group was something of an open secret within the shinobi forces of Konoha. "He was then promoted at my recommendation and my colleague. We frequently worked together."

He decided to keep firmly behind his teeth any and all of his suspicions and doubts regarding the massacre. He had been on a long-term undercover mission for a few months leading up to and after the massacre, so he couldn't say if something had changed and caused the relatively balanced and endlessly loyal Itachi to snap, but something in his gut told him that there was more to it. But not enough to bring anything up to the understandably traumatized and deeply involved Sasuke.

"Do you think I will ever be able to kill him?" Sasuke finally asked, very obviously having to force himself to admit to any doubts as to his ability to accomplish his goal.

Kakashi crouched down next to him, the pair of them now standing in front of the house Sasuke used as his primary residence in the depressing place, before saying firmly, "Yes. It will take time. Time and a lot of work. Itachi is brilliant and he will not have stopped strengthening himself in the years before you meet again. You will have to catch up to him at a truly ridiculous rate if you want to beat him alone. But if you accept the help that Naruto and Sakura offered you, if you accept the help _I_ offer you, as someone who failed to see the signs and was also betrayed by him, then the time can be cut down and the odds in your favor be improved."

Sasuke's jaw tightened and he looked away, Kakashi resting a hand on the boy's shoulder and saying, "Think about it."

He rose to his full height and started to walk away before remembering something he had forgotten to apologize for, and truly regretted now, "Sasuke," he said, turning and catching the boy just before he opened his door, the genin clearly shocked at the deep bow Kakashi offered him, "I apologize for throwing that man's words in your face. I misread the situation and hurt you for it."

"…Thank you, sensei," Sasuke whispered, returning the bow shortly and finally retreating to his home. Kakashi straightened and briefly debated leaving a clone or summon behind to monitor the situation, before deciding that it would violate his student's privacy too much this early in the game, and leaving to his own home to finish outlining a training plan for the next few days.

And to develop an injury-minimizing strategy for explaining his failure to the Sandaime.

* * *

**A/N:** This twist goes to gwenhyfar - she pointed out some common problems with Sasuke characterization that I had indulged in previously and let me bounce ideas off her until this popped out :)


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